An HBO documentary that begins streaming on Tuesday promises to resolve one of the biggest mysteries in the world of cryptocurrency—the creator of bitcoin. Emmy-winning filmmaker Cullen Hoback tells CNN he and his team not only discovered the true identity of the person—or persons—known by the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto but confronted the real-life Nakamoto with the evidence in Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery. In Hoback's recounting, Nakamoto's reaction is "telling."
As Politico notes, other names have been put forth over the years, none of which have panned out. If the film gets it right, it "could send shock waves through world financial markets," writes the outlet's Izabella Kaminska. It might even ripple into the US election, given how Donald Trump has been courting bitcoin backers. Hoback says it matters because the real-life Nakamoto may be one of the wealthiest people in the world—provided they still have access to their crypto wallets.
The documentary first airs at 9pm ET on Tuesday, and the crypto world has been feverishly speculating in advance. Two names in the mix are Americans Len Sassaman and software developer Hal Finney, per Benzinga. However, both are no longer alive, which would seem to fly in the face of Hoback's story of confronting Nakamoto. Others high on the betting list are Blockstream CEO Adam Back (inventor of Hashcash), Japanese systems engineer Dorian Nakamoto, and American computer scientist Nick Szabo. (More bitcoin stories.)
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